You know, Ronnie wrote, looking at his watch, I think you’re right. The developers saved her from death, but they didn’t stop her from being cursed. I wonder why. Have they decided not to give out the behind-the-scenes game so clearly?
Strange—not strange, it doesn’t matter now, Doffersnoah replied, you have a bigger concern, kid. The story in the forest is gaining momentum. The infection continues to spread further and further. Today, the first research teams went there. If Latludious finds out that you tricked them all, the consequences will be more serious than you can imagine.
All right. Keep me informed of the situation.
Ronnie closed the chat and looked down, sitting on a hill near the mountain. There Vvy, Latludious, Faolandan, Yleen and Illyseh went up to him, and after a couple of minutes all six stood in a semicircle in front of the entrance to the dungeon. Joyful Barahu was turning circles around them. It, drooling from its mouth, looked into this black hole, overflowing with power and mana, in anticipation of new prey. However, most of the group did not share this feeling and experienced nervous excitement.
The entrance was without frills and special architecture, as if it had been hastily created many centuries ago by a group of uncouth primitive people. Too small and squalid for an S+ rank dungeon. The air that the cave exhaled said the opposite: a sickening stench and grave dampness. Gnawed animal bones lay in front of the entrance.
“It looks like a giant’s mouth,” Faolandan said.
Vvy picked up a part of the rib bone, turned it over in his hand and threw it to the side and saw faint hoofprints at the entrance and said:
“Chewed and spit it out… I hope we won’t face the same fate.”
The first rays of the sunrise caught the early birds from the east, coloring the gut-shaped clouds with scarlet rays. The star was rising, surrounded by the clutches of a rocky gorge. In the west, a funnel cloud of strange creatures was spinning over the tops of the mountains. There was also a mercury-colored studded forest on the slope, from the metal wilds of which a waterfall crashed into a small foamy lake. They said Matafaire like to nest in such places.
Mercyaa, Hebanyaс and Rdrag (level 19, 13%, rank: deputy officer of the support squads) were hiding among the boulders five hundred yards from the dungeon. They were watching for anyone on the stone plains of these harsh Gothic places. Nothing but yellow moss, razor-sharp pebbles and endless mountain strongholds. A shadow of Fore-ore flashed over their heads—a flying creature similar to an owl, with a white muzzle, white plumage on the wings and unusual branching horns. The deputy looked at the fortress of Varnasosto. A thousand players were running back and forth like ants, preparing for the appearance of the dragon. The commotion did not subside even in the morning.
Yleen ordered everyone to make sure that the weapons were in order and that no one had forgotten anything. Ronnie finished checking the ammunition first and sat down on a small pile of boulders and closed his eyes, enjoying the moments of calm. Barahu was sitting next to him, and Faolandan watched them with envy and tried to avert his magnetized gaze from the picture that was unsettling him. When everyone was ready, Yleen told them to follow each other in a column. The Top Secret guild players exchanged glances with half-closed eyelids. Vvy barely shook his head to the side.
“Latludious will lead the group. He’ll light the way and protect himself with a magic shield if necessary. Then Vvy, followed by me, Faolandan, Ronnie, and the rear, Illyseh.”
Once the group was in the dungeon, everyone kept silent. Tension was felt in every step. Only Barahu did not care about the problems and relationships of people. It ran around Ronnie with a joyful face and glowing red eyes, prowling around, then stopped at some stone, sniffed in search of prey, and caught up with the others.
The tunnel was narrow. Faolandan had to move in a half-crouch because of his immense size. Darkness ahead, and the last gray light was disappearing behind. Water squelched under their feet, and their shoes kept getting stuck in the mud. The further they went, the colder the air felt. Puffs, as if cigarette smoke, were coming out of the mouth of each member of the squad. The cold penetrated the bodies to the point of trembling.
“Strange,” Yleen said. “When I was young, I worked in the mines, not for long, but one thing I’ll remember forever - the air. It was sorely missed. Inside there was always a terrible stuffiness and heat. And here, it’s exactly the opposite! How can this be? Vents do not give a similar effect.”
“There’s magic everywhere,” Latludious replied. “That’s the answer to all questions.”
They fell silent. The road swerved to the right, then to the left. The group went down and went back up. No sound except their footsteps: the creaking metallic clatter of the tank’s armored lath sabatons, the nasty creak of strike force’s thick rubber military boots, and the noiseless rustle of senior officers and magician’s light shoes. After another turn, the light of the white sphere exposed the first web on the ceiling, and the first stones appeared under their feet, which Vvy immediately stumbled over and cursed.
Over time, the tunnel became wider and higher. Now, in case of an attack, there will be enough room for maneuvering, Ronnie thought. Smooth surface of walls and ceilings replaced the uncouth and roughly dug tunnel, and torches burned in the corners with an eternal flame, illuminating the way. Latludious extinguished the sphere and warned that, according to available information, the first team died around these places. They installed self-deploying B rank scanners, activated them so that the first pass appeared on the maps and moved on.
Wooden braces separated sections of the tunnel. On one of these segments, they met the first archaic sculptures, abandoned and terrifying - gnome heads with dilapidated helmets, empty eye sockets and dangling chains. A black haze crept from the opposite edge at the turn. Latludious noticed this and stopped the squad with a gesture. Everyone took out their weapons and got ready.
Ronnie flinched when he heard water and turned his head to the right. He saw drops falling from the ceiling onto the top of one head. There, in the place where the brains should be, a small puddle filled the void, from which a thin stream flowed. Its crystal clear water skirted the stone eyebrows, passed through the cheeks, and fell from the chin to the ground.
The magician created a tracking eye from the raw earth and sent it forward to scout the area. Yet the fog was too dense. It saw nothing. He exchanged glances with Vvy and he went first, pulled the shield forward. Either the roar of the wind or the howling of monsters came from the front. Yleen activated the thermal imager in his helmet but found nothing.
In oppressive ignorance, squeezed by the tense atmosphere, they walked for about an hour, and soon the fog dissipated. Latludious did not doubt its magical origin. The only question was why no one attacked them. The tunnel’s height had increased to five yards. They found themselves in a newly illuminated section, where obsidian pillars of a parallelepiped shape stood on the sides and in the center of the road, skulls with black spots on the frontal lobe and a steel mask replacing the lower jaw lay on the floor. In addition, they found two passages. The one on the right was small and would be perfect for some gnomes. The one ahead was high and wide. They agreed to call it the “Main Passage”. A terrible howl from a side tunnel flew past them as a puff of wind and died down. Then Ronnie and the others heard a strange, somber laugh. Everyone stopped.
“What are we going to do next?” asked Vvy.
“I’ll make a protective field around us. If the monsters are of a non-sapient type, they’ll start attacking with ranged attacks. It will not cause any damage, and we’ll easily fight back.”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Faolandan hung the DP-27 with a silencer on his back and grabbed the wrist of his right hand and asked:
“What if it’s a sapient type?”
No one wanted to answer. Yleen took the initiative and said,
“In that case, they’ll attack first in close combat, pass through the field, and the only thing that will save us is the armor and our own reaction.”
They sat down between obsidian pillars, the height of which reached three yards, and the function remained a mystery. If they don’t serve as pillars, Yleen reasoned, then what for? The group felt like magic, strong and unstoppable, covered everything around with an invisible veil, tingling the skin of their face. Latludious’ mana recovered fast after casting the spell. The experience increased by 0.001% every second. They sat under the purple magic dome and looked around, ready to take the fight at any moment.
All six of them sat for over three hours without talking or moving. Barahu snuggled up to Ronnie, and from time to time, raised its head and sniffed. Faolandan picked up someone’s bone from the ground, twisted it in his hands and hit a pole. A thud resounded through the chamber, followed by pulsating and magical vibrations echoing through the tunnels. Everyone instantly stared at him, eyes open, scared. After a ten-second silence, they heard an unintelligible and quiet speech. Ronnie caught a hint of the language in which the Doppelgänger and the orc mage were talking to each other. The whispering stopped, and a howl followed it. Latludious took the small stones in his palm and squeezed them in his fist with all his might. The group exchanged glances among themselves. Illyseh approached Faolandan and whispered to him:
“Next time you hit something, do it with your head so you can put your brains back in place. I don’t want to die because of you, you fucktard.”
Barahu raised its head again. This time, everyone paid attention to it and waited, not knowing what. The wolfhound barked at the top of his voice.
“Something’s going to happen,” Yleen said. “Get ready.”
A few seconds later, one obsidian pillar lit up in purple and released black smoke, which sucked in some remains from the ground. First, a skull poked out of it, followed by about a dozen hands. Then the monster hummed, its limbs turned gray and crunched, and it spiraled down with the speed of the wind. The frightened players jumped aside, and Barahu growled and attacked in response. The creature stretched out its first two arms and grabbed the dog by the neck and fractured the cervical vertebrae. Faolandan let go of the weapon. The officers grimaced. Latludious’s body felt numb. With its free hands, the monster tore off Barahu’s limbs and threw them down. Tentacles crawled out of the skull, which stuck into the eyes, nose and mouth of its prey, and sucked it dry.
A black flash. The players turned away for a second and saw how the creature threw the magician aside and stunned him for a while. The spell of the protective dome was dispelled. Ronnie pointed the rifle and aimed at the head, but the monster evaporated and appeared a second later behind him and tried to grab the sniper by the neck, but he dodged in a roll and tried to make a shot at random in a U-turn. He did not make it in time. The dark creature punched him in the jaw, grabbed him by the neck, and threw him three yards away. Ronnie would have flown more if he had not hit his back on a pole.
Faolandan and Yleen pointed the muzzle of their weapons at the enemy and fired a dozen bullets. The creature evaporated and teleported next to Illyseh. His hands lit up, he blocked a dozen blows with his palms and elbows and counterattacked, but the opponent vanished and this time it appeared behind the Lord and grabbed him with its hands and tried to squeeze him to death. The Supreme Officer’s armor activated and protected him with a layer of ceramic plates. Illyseh bent both elbows and snapped his fingers. Everyone squeezed their eyes shut at the flash of light. The monster howled. The healer took the chance and flashed to his friend and activated a “burning light spell” on his palms. They lit up with white fire. Illyseh cut off the creature’s hands in two moves, threw Yleen aside, and then closed the distance and crushed the monster’s skull.
The bright light disappeared, followed by the first exhalations of relief.
“Thanks,” Yleen said, getting up from the ground, “but I think you dislocated my shoulder.”
Illyseh looked at Ronnie. He was unconscious.
“He wasn’t as lucky as you.”
“How is he?”
“Most likely, his spine snapped.”
Latludious watched the healer with envy. Vvy stood aside. He did not expect the healer to be strong, though his level suggested otherwise.
What do you think? He wrote to Latludious in PM.
That we’ll have problems with him.
Ronnie seems to be out of the picture.
Illyseh approached the sniper and touched his head. The palm glowed and pulsed.
No one can cure such wounds. The magician wrote. We are wasting time in vain.
Vvy approached Illyseh and said with all seriousness in his voice:
“There’s no way to save his life. We should leave him behind.”
Yleen stood next to him and smiled:
“You’ve never seen what healers are capable of, right? Just shut up and watch.”
Illyseh made a magic feather bed that looked like an airplane carpet, put Ronnie on it, and started the operation. The rays of light scattered in semicircular waves in time with the sniper’s heartbeat and dispersed into the darkness. A barely audible crunch. Latludious frowned, for he realized it was the first vertebrae that were being set.
Yleen went to the wall and sat down and suggested that the others do the same. The operation should take about an hour or two.
“How does he do it?” Latludious asked and answered his own question. “Is healing in this game equivalent to surgery in reality?”
“Yes,” Yleen replied, realizing that it was pointless to hide the obvious fact. “I wish he’d just chant ‘healing’ or ‘rebirth’ and that would have been the end. Alas, it’s not.”
Latludious cleared the ground from the bones and created a new dome. They sat and did not take their eyes off the miracle. All except Faolandan. He was sitting in a corner between the pillars and stroking Barahu’s dead body, lifeless and bloody. Yleen was sick of the machine gunner’s sobs. He got mad and asked him to stop acting like a little girl. The darkness was gathering. Black smoke floated through the tunnel and headed towards the exit. Then a sound came out of somewhere, as if there had been a landslide, then a strange crack scattered with a new echo, and a lull came.
The operation ended four hours later. Ronnie opened his eyes and felt a surge of strength. Bones crunched when he got up, but Illyseh calmed him down, saying that it was normal, and not to make sudden movements.
In the HUD, the experience bar increased by 2%.
“It’s time to move,” Yleen said in a commanding voice.
Faolandan did not calm down. Even if the betrayal of the dog did not leave a scar on his heart, but death tore all the seams, releasing deep sadness. Big and cruel on the outside and so fragile on the inside. Ronnie walked up to him and looked at Barahu, and left. Faolandan shouted after him:
“That’s it?”
The sniper stopped and answered without turning around:
“What do you want from me?”
“At least a little sympathy. It was so attached to you!”
Ronnie continued to stand with his back to Faolandan. A lump came to his throat, and his eyes blurred. He was holding a Barrett in his hands and flicking the fuse back and forth. But said nothing. He did not know what to say, and could not.
Faolandan bursted with anger, the veins on his temples bulged, and his fists clenched the wolfhound’s fur with all their might.
“Soulless scum!” he shouted and jumped up and picked the DP up and, without hesitation and without the slightest delay, pulled the trigger. Muffled pops followed. Illyseh’s eyes lit up with white fire. He used the spell “Patronage” in the blink of an eye. Light covered Ronnie’s body. Bullets, every single one, ricocheted and crashed into pillars, ceiling and walls, almost grazed Vvy. A strange sepulchral howl appeared.
“You can’t stop fucking things up, right? Fucking moron.” Illyseh said.
The healer moved to the machine gunner and released the paralyzing spell “Poena”, touching his chest with his palm. He went limp and fell. Latludious took out a lighter and felt a machine gun at the back of his head.
“That’s enough,” Yleen shouted. “What the fuck are you doing? Are you crazy? Vvy, subdue your comrade.” He turned to Faolandan and said, “It’s your fault that your dog is dead. You’ll snap at others and cry your eyes out. We have a serious mission, not a school picnic. One more such trick and everyone will get an enemy of the race debuff. Fuck, Vvy, you wouldn’t have walked a couple of yards yourself. An idiot spoils everything, but blames others. Fucking shame.”
“AI.”
“At your service, Ronnie. I’m glad you’re safe and sound.”
“What is an ‘enemy of the race’ debuff?”
“This is a right granted only to the ‘Lord’. A debuff that highlights the player on the map and puts a bounty on his head.”
“Like he’s a PK?”
“Yes. Only after rebirth, the debuff remains.”
“And there’s no way to get rid of it?”
“There is. Talk to the Lord, meet his demands, then he will remove the ‘enemy of the race’ debuff.”
“That’s hilarious...”
When Vvy and Latludious dropped their hands, Illyseh returned Faolandan to his former state. The machine gunner got up, said nothing. Yleen was about to insert a scanning chip into the defeated enemy when he heard changes in the dull howl. It was getting louder and clearer. A couple of seconds later, the obsidian pillars lit up with purple flames, and as Ronnie noticed, all but one activated—the one that had worked earlier. The black clouds sucked in the remains and formed the monsters’ bodies. Latludious looked around and counted about two dozen new creatures.
“Now we’re really fucked.” he said and spat.